November 9
1900s-1960s *1912 - Frank Chance is sold by the Chicago Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds. When all National League clubs waive claims to him in December, the Reds free Chance to manage the Yankees. *1925 - Rabbit Maranville is waived to the Brooklyn Robins from the Chicago Cubs. *1935 - Pitcher Bob Gibson is born in Omaha, Nebraska. Gibson will make his major league debut in 1959, marking the start of a 17-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals and an election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. *1937 - St. Louis Cardinals Triple Crown winner Joe Medwick is named National League Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers Association of America. *1950: **''The Associated Press'' chooses Philadelphia Phillies skipper Eddie Sawyer as Manager of the Year. **The BBWAA name Sam Jethroe of the Boston Braves as the National League Rookie of the Year. At 31 years, two months, 18 days of age, Jethroe becomes the oldest rookie to win the award. He has been one of the best Negro Leagues players of all time. **After twenty-one years with the club, shortstop and future Hall of Famer Luke Appling is released by the Chicago White Sox allowing him to become the manager of the Memphis Chicks of the South Atlantic League. Appling is replaced at shortstop by Venezuelan rookie Chico Carrasquel. *1953 - Reaffirming its earlier position, the U.S. Supreme Court rules, 7-2, baseball is a sport and not a business and therefore not subject to antitrust laws. The ruling is made in a case involving New York Yankees minor leaguer George Toolson, who refused to move from Triple-A to Double-A. 1970s-1980s *1973 - Cincinnati trade OF Bobby Tolan and P Dave Tomlin to San Diego for P Clay Kirby. All three will have decent years with their new teams. *1976 - The Oakland Athletics give future Hall of Famer Billy Williams his unconditional release, ending his 18-year major league career. Williams, who spent all but two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, retires with 426 home runs, 1,475 RBI, 2,711 hits, and a .290 batting average. *1982 - Robin Yount, who hit .331 for the Milwaukee Brewers and led the American League in hits (210), doubles (46), and slugging percentage (.578), is a unanimous choice as AL Most Valuable Player. The future Hall of Famer captures all 27 first place votes easily beating runner ups Eddie Murray and Doug DeCinces. *1983 - University of Alabama first baseman Dave Magadan, who led the NCAA with a .535 batting average last season, wins the Golden Spikes Award as the outstanding amateur baseball player in the United States. Magadan will play for ten major league clubs in a span of 16 years. 1990s *1992: **Lou Piniella is named manager of the Seattle Mariners. **Drayton McLane, Jr. officially becomes owner of the Houston Astros, purchasing the team from John McMullen for $115 million. *1993 - San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds is voted the National League MVP for the third time in four years. He joins Stan Musial, Roy Campanella and Mike Schmidt as the National League's only three-time MVPs. In his first year in San Francisco, Bonds reached career highs with a .336 batting average, 46 home runs, 129 runs and 123 RBI to help the Giants to 103 wins, although the team missed the NL West Division title by one game. *1993 - The Seattle Mariners trade infielder Dave Magadan to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Jeff Darwin and cash consideration. *1995 - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo (13–6) is named National League Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Japanese player ever to win a MLB award. Nomo posted a 13-6 record with 236 strikeouts and a 2.54 ERA in 191.1 innings. *1996 - At Yokohama, Japanese All-Star Hideki Matsui hits a grand slam off pitcher Shane Reynolds. Reynolds retires 20 of the next 21 batters, but loses 6–4. *1998: **Hall of Fame pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter announces that he is suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. The fatal disease, known medically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, attacks the nerves in the spinal cord and the brain and leads to a loss of motor skills. Hunter will succumb to the disease less than a year later. **In a trade of pitchers, the Seattle Mariners send Paul Spoljaric to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Mark Leiter. *1999 - Kansas City Royals outfielder Carlos Beltrán is named the American League Rookie of the Year. Beltrán became the first rookie with 100 or more RBI since Mike Piazza had 112 in 1993 and the first in the AL since Mark McGwire had 118 in 1987. Beltrán is also the first rookie with a 100 run / 100 RBI season since Fred Lynn in 1975. 2000s *2000 - After posting the best record in MLB this season, Giants skipper Dusty Baker is named by the BBWAA as the National League Manager of the Year. Previously, Baker won the award with the Giants in 1993 and 1997. He joins Tony LaRussa (Chicago White Sox, 1983 and Oakland Athletics in 1988 and 1992) as the only three-time winner of the award. *2001 - After exercising Omar Daal's $4.5 million contract option for 2002 yesterday, the Phillies trade the left hander pitcher to the Dodgers for two minor league pitchers. The Phillies acquired Daal along with Travis Lee, Nelson Figueroa and Vicente Padilla in the same deal which sent Curt Schilling to Arizona in 2000. *2004: **Roger Clemens becomes the oldest pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. The 42-year old ‘Rocket’ has received the honor a record seven times and becomes the first to win the award with four different teams: Boston Red Sox (1986-87, 1991), Toronto Blue Jays (1997-98), New York Yankees (2001) and Houston Astros (2004). After coming out of retirement to play for his home town team, Clemens posted a 18-4 record with 218 strikeouts and a 2.98 ERA. **Hoping to fill the void created by Steve Stone's resignation, the Chicago Cubs hire former Arizona Diamondbacks manager and current ''FOX TV'' analyst to broadcast games on WGN. After spending twenty years in the broadcast booth, Stone left Chicago after his on-air comments concerning the team’s swoon in the wild card race angered manager Dusty Baker and some of the players. **Joining Seattle Mariners new manager, Mike Hargrove, Don Baylor is named the team’s batting coach replacing Paul Molitor. The former major league manager became available after the Mets announced a new coaching staff would be put in place to work with recently hired pilot, Willie Randolph. Births *1858 - George Wood, outfielder (d. 1924) *1865 - Jack Crooks, infielder (d. 1918) *1876 - Moonlight Graham, outfielder (d. 1965) *1897 - Harvey Hendrick, infielder (d. 1941) *1897 - Johnny Gooch, catcher (d. 1975) *1919 - Gerry Priddy, infielder (d. 1980) *1925 - Bill Bruton, outfielder (d. 1995) *1931 - Whitey Herzog, player and manager *1935 - Bob Gibson, Hall of Fame pitcher *1952 - Jim Riggleman, manager *1958 - Teddy Higuera, All-Star pitcher *1962 - Dion James, outfielder *1970 - Chad Ogea, pitcher *1971 - Jon Nunnally, outfielder *1971 - Scott Sauerbeck, pitcher *1974 - Beiker Graterol, pitcher *1977 - Peter Bergeron, outfielder *1978 - Todd Self, outfielder *1978 - Jason Standridge, pitcher *1979 - David Bush, pitcher *1979 - Adam Dunn, All-Star outfielder *1981 - Chuck James, pitcher Deaths *1914 - Danny Green, outfielder (b. 1876) *1977 - Fred Haney, player and manager (b. 1898) *1988 - Bob Weiland, pitcher (b. 1905)